Land Management & Land Use

Rural areas throughout the United States are experiencing rapid development as urban dwellers leave cities in search of countryside living. A focused study reveals the utility of land trusts in conserving land with limited environmental and land-use regulations.  

Beavers are powerful ecosystem engineers that change entire river systems, often to the benefit of humans. These benefits, however, have been overlooked in the past, when beavers were hunted to the brink of extinction for their fur, and even today as we continue to destroy and degrade their habitat. What if we understood the full value their work?

Andrew Ofstehage, postdoctoral associate at Cornell University, used his background in agronomy and anthropology to investigate the soy boom in Brazil. In his upcoming book “Welcome to Soylandia!”, Ofstehage shows how transnational North American farmers are managing both soils and investors while creating narratives around their presence in Brazil.

The United States has a reputation for successful land conservation. But who are we protecting this land for? Dr. Beth Rose Middleton is researching a new way of working with the land’s first stewards, Native American tribes, to protect not only natural resources but also cultures and traditional ways of knowing.